MotoGP Argentina: Francesco Bagnaia: Very upset, angry, I don’t understand

Francesco Bagnaia was at a loss to explain the accident that cost him second place and the MotoGP title lead in Sunday’s Argentine race.
Francesco Bagnaia , MotoGP race, Argentina MotoGP, 2 April
Francesco Bagnaia , MotoGP race, Argentina MotoGP, 2 April

The reigning world champion, sixth in the dry Saturday Sprint, spent the opening half of the wet grand prix sandwiched between Alex Marquez and Franco Morbid🐻elli for third.

The Italian then wrestled second fr🧸om the Gresini machine of Marquez, where he looked set to finish, with VR46’s Marco Bezzecchi having already escaped into the ✱distance.

But it all came undone just a few laps later when Bag💞naia lost the front of his Desmosedici thr𓆏ough the final sequence of right-handers.

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“I crashed. I'm verꦰy upset, sincerely. I had this kind of crash that you don't understand,” he said. “Sometimes you crash a🐠nd you don't know why, and these are the most difficult to understand, the most difficult to learn from.

“In those 16 laps I did the same manoeuvre but in this lap I crashed. It's also not a normal crash, because normally when you lose the front, it's b𒁃ecause you braked too much or you released the brakes too early.

“Today I lost the front touching the gas. So it's something that is more difficult to understa🐼nd. But that's it. I did a mistake.

“I was wond♕ering that this year I was a better rider, more precise, without mistakes, doing better things, but the second race of the year and I already cr🅷ashed.

"So it's something that makes me very angry.”

The incident sounded similar to s🌳ome of the ‘pressure off’ accidents that Bagnaia suffered in the opening half of last season, after which he𒁏 fought back from 91 points down to win ♒the world title.

“I was feeling r♚eally great. Without forcing, without doing crazy things, I was second. I was already sure that🍌 Marco in front was too fast for me, I was already with 5 seconds of gap,” he said.

“I was just controlling t꧒he [gap] with Alex. And that's it. But it's for that reason that I'm more upset. Because norﷺmally when you control, you don't have to crash like this, and this is something that I have to understand.”

The double Portimao winner re-joined the race but finished 16th and last, costing him the title lead to VR46 Acadꦏemy colleague Bezzecchi by 9 points.

“I'm happy for Marco, I think he really deserved the victory. He was unbeatable this weekend,” Bagnaia said. “He w꧅as very competitive yesterday, very competitive today in the wet.

“So his first win in Moto3 was here♔, his first win in MotoGP is here, so he can be very proud of himself, and I'm confident that he will be very competitive all of the season.”

Bagnaia's factory Ducati team-mate Enea Bastianini missed the event due to his🌜 fractured shoulder in the Portimao Sprint.

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